Sheet-music turner.



No. 898,149. PATENTED SEPT. 8, 1908. J. T. STAPLETON. SHEET MUSIC TURNER.

APPLIG TION FILED J N;18, 1908.

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PATENTED SLPT. 8, 1908.

J. T. STAPLETON. SHEET MUSIC TURNER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN 1a 1908 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN T. STAPLETON, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

SHEET-MUSIC TURNER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN T. STAPLETON, a citizen of the United States, and residing at Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sheet- Music Turners, of which the following is a specification, such as will enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to sheet music turners, and the object thereof is to provide an improved device or apparatus of this class designed particularly to be attached to or connected with a piano, organ or similar instrument and to be operated by pedals, but which maybe applied to music stands of any kind or class if desired.

The invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawing forms a part, in which the separate parts of my improvement are designated by suitable reference characters in each of the views, and in which Figure l is a front view of an upright piano provided with my improved sheet music turner, part of the construction being in section; Fig. 2 a partial plan view of'the turner detached from the piano; Fig. 3 a sectional side view of the piano and showing a part only of the device or apparatus for turning the sheets of music; Fig. 4 a sectional detail of the construction which I employ and showing a stationary sleeve, and a vertical rotatable rod mounted thereon and provided at its lower end with a pulley and a spring; Fig. 5 a perspective view of one of the sheet music holding and turning arms which I employ; Fig. 6 a perspective view of the end portion of an arm which in use is connected with a vertically arranged rotatable rod and designed to operate the sheet music holding and turning arms; Fig. 7 a section on the line 77 of Fig. 1; Fig. 8 a side view of a stationary vertical rod on which the sheet holder and turning arms are mounted and showing also the ends of said arms; and, Fig. 9 a view on an enlarged scale of the upper end of the stationary rod shown in Fig. 8 and showing the sheet music holder and turning arms mounted thereon and partially in section.

In the drawing forming part of this specifi cation, I have shown at a an ordinary upright piano provided with a keyboard a above which is a horizontal plate, board or support Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. January 18, 1908.

Patented Sept. 8, 1908.

Serial No. 411,470.

a with which most instruments of this class are usually provided.

In the practice of my invention, I provide a base plate I) which is secured to the board or support a and provided centrally with an upright stationary rod 6 provided with spring clamps b one of which, in the con struction shown, is near the top thereof and the other near the bottom thereof, and one of these clamps is clearly shown in Fig. 7 and is provided with forwardly directed spring jaws 6 The plate I) is also provided laterally of and rearwardly of the rod 5 with vertical sleeves b in which are mounted rotatable rods 6 provided at their upper ends with arms 5 provided at their outer ends with heads 5 which comprise, as shown in Fig. 6, Stationary downwardly directed back flanges b and depending hinged front flanges I).

The central rod 12 is provided at its upper end with asemi-circular loop 0 below which is a larger semi-circular loop 0 the upper side of which is provided with notches or recesses 0 and loosely mounted on the segmental loop 0 are a plurality of music sheet turning arms 0 having eyes or rings at their inner ends through which the loop 0 passes, and said arms are adapted to rest on the loop 0 and to move thereover, and the arms 0 which are three in number in the form of construction shown, are provided at their outer ends, each with a downwardly directed spring clamp c and with an upwardly directed proj ection c.

The rotatable rods 1) pass downwardly through the plate, board or support a and in said board or support a are spring drum casings (Z through which said rods also pass and in these casings are springs (Z One end of each of the springs (Z is connected with the corresponding casing, and the other with the corresponding rod I), as clearly shown in Fig. 4, and these springs serve to hold the rods 1) and the arms at the top thereof in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2 in which said arms are directed outwardly or laterally parallel with the face of the top portion of the piano. The rods b are also provided at their lower ends with pulleys e rearwardly of which are other pulleys 6 below which are other pulleys c and cords c are wound on the pulleys c and passed around the pulleys c and c and mounted at 6 at the opposite sides of the usual pedals e, are supplementalpedals 6 provided at their inner ends with upwardly directed arms a with which the cords e are connected.

I have also shown at f a plurality of sheets of music and, in the form of construction shown, all the arms a and the sheets of music f are turned to the left in full lines, but one of said sheets is indicated in dotted lines at the right in Fig. 1, and the arms 0 are indicated in dotted lines at the right in Fig. 2.

I have also indicated at g in Fig. 2 a part of a circle through which, in the operation of the apparatus, the right arm 12 turns, at g a part of a circle through which the left arm 1) turns and at g a part of a circle through which the arms 0 turn.

In practice, the left edges of the sheets of music are connected with the clamps b on the central rod if, said edges being inserted between the spring jaws b of said clamps, and the top edge of one sheet is connected with the clamp c of each of the arms 0*.

Suppose the parts to be in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, if now it is desired to turn the sheets f of music to the right, the right hand pedal c is depressed, this operation throws the right arm 6 around to the left, the front flange 7) of the head b of said arm passes over the upwardly directed pro jection c at the end of the first arm 0*, and when the pressure on the right pedal 6 is released the right arm will be turned to the right by the corresponding spring b and the first sheet of music at the left will be turned to the right, and in this operation the end of r the said. arm 0 is released from the head b of the said right arm 11 as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and by repeating this operation all the arms 0 and the corresponding sheets of music may be turned to the right. It will be understood that by operating the left hand pedal 6 the corresponding rotatable red I) and its arm b at the left may be operated in the same manner and all the sheets of music successively turned to the left. It will be observed that this operation depends upon the fact that the parts of circles g and 9 through which the arms 6 rotate are eccentric to the part of the circle g through which the arms 0 rotate and this enables the upwardly directed projection c of the arms 0 to slide through the heads b of the arms 12 as said arms are rotated.

In Figs. 8 and 9, I have shown a modification of the rod b and the arms 0 connected therewith. In this modification the rod 5 is provided at the top thereof with a reduced portion 6 forming a shoulder I) and the arms 0* are provided with flat heads 0 through which the reduced portion I) of the rod b passes and said heads are provided at one side with a reduced extension 0 with which the arms 0 are connected, and with this construction, the arms 0* will swing in a horizontal plane as with the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and the upwardly directed projections c at the ends of said arms are made of different lengths so as to bring the tops thereof in the same horizontal plane as shown in Fig. 8, and with this construction the operation will be the same as with that shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a sheet music turning apparatus, a central stationary vertical rod provided at its upper end with arms adapted to swing in a horizontal plane, said rod and said arms being provided with devices for holding sheets of music, rotatable vertical rods mounted laterally and rearwardly of the central rod and provided at their upper ends with arms adapted to engage the arms connected with the central rod, springs for holding said rotatable rods in a predetermined position, and pedal operated devices for turninglsaid rods against the operation of said springs.

2. In a sheet music turning apparatus, a central vertical rod provided at its top with arms adapted to turn in a horizontal plane, said arms being provided at their outer ends with upwardly directed projections, means for connecting sheets of music with said rod and said arms, rotatable vertical rods mounted laterally and rearwardly of the first named rod and provided. at their upper ends with arms which are above the first named arms, the arms of the rotatable rods being provided at their outer ends with stationary downwardly directed back flanges and with hinged front flanges, springs for holding said rotatable rods in a predeterminci'l position, and pedal operated devices for turning said rods against the operation of said springs.

3. The combination with a support of a sheet music turning apparatus, comprising a central vertical rod, arms connected with the top of said rod and adapted to swing in a horizontal plane, means for connecting sheets of music with said rod, and said arms, rotatable vertical rods mounted laterally of and rearwardly of the first named rod and provided at their upper ends with arms adapted to swing in a horizontal plane and adapted to engage the first named arms, springs for holding said rotatable rods in a predetermined position, and means for turning said rods against the operation of said springs.

4. In an apparatus for turning sheet music, a central vertical rod provided at its top with arms adapted to swing in a vertical plane, said arms being provided at their outer ends with upwardly directed projections, and means for connecting sheet music with said rod and said arms, rotatable vertical rods mounted laterally of and rearwardly of the first named rod and provided at the top thereof with arms having heads adapted to seams 3 ence of the subscribing witnesses this 16th day of January 1908.

JOHN T. STAPLETON.

Witnesses:

C. MULREANY, L. J. QUINN. 

